Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Alzrius" data-source="post: 2023400" data-attributes="member: 8461">Needless to say, this article rocked just as much, if not more, than I had been hoping. Here's what it had:The first page is a full-color piece of artwork of what is apparently Pazuzu drinking on top of a rocky outcropping above some winged minions. There is a litany of a prayer to him in the upper left corner. The art here is good, but a bit too manga-style IMHO for something like this.The article has a single opening paragraph before immediately launching into the good stuff: Stats for Pazuzu himself.It's worth noting that though there are quite a few obvious similarities between Pazuzu's stats here and those published in the <a href="http://wizards.com/dnd/files/Archfiends.zip" target="_blank">Book of Vile Darkness web enhancement</a>, this one is a much more fleshed-out, and interesting, take on the Demon Prince. For one thing, this article's Pazuzu is much stronger, being a CR 29 compared to the web enhancement's CR 24. Some of his powers are fleshed out in greater detail (such as his breath weapon that releases insects being better described), and others are new (he can now use wish as a spell-like ability, and he has a planewalking supernatural ability that explains how he's so easily able to go to other planes), and a few things are gone (such as his being able to use meteor swarm).In terms of vile material, there isn't much in the entire article, and that pace is set here. Pazuzu's only vile statistic is that he has the Dark Speech feat. All vile material in the article is given replacements if you don't own the BoVD.Likewise, I noticed at least two errors (albeit small ones) right off. Pazuzu had neither the Extraplanar subtype, nor the Tanar'ri subtype. The latter seems like an oversight, as he still had all the special qualities of the Tanar'ri subtype.More than two pages is given to Pazuzu's combat abilities and descriptions. In there is a sidebar on his minions, with the minions in question being an abyssal ant swarm (part of his breath weapon) and fiendish rocs (part of his summon avian ability).After this is a (what I found to be) a pleasant surprise: information on Pazuzu's aspect (aspects are from the Miniature's Handbook, being basically very weak (CR 9 or so, like this one) avatars of unique Outsiders and deities).Next is Pazuzu's Goals, where it details what it is that the Demon Prince of the Lower Aerial Kingdoms wants. The answer is actually quite simple: he wants the Prime Material Plane, because corrupting goodness and innocence there is like a fine wine that he can't get enough of.Pazuzu's Cult is a description of the gradual process that Pazuzu sets in motion when a mortal calls on him, describing how he works that into a full-blown cult cell, and his relationship with that cult as it grows.Thralls of Pazuzu leads into a BoVD-style Thrall of Pazuzu PrC, and has an interesting sidebar on Pazuzu in the Real World, telling us what the mythology of Pazuzu is.Pazuzu's minions details creatures likely to worship and work for his cults, and introduces a new tanar'ri: the anzu, very nasty CR 15 critters.Finally, Pazuzu's Realm gives us a very nice description of the layer of the Abyss that Pazuzu has made his permanent abode (though he spends little time there), layer 503, Torremor. It talks about his personal lair there, what dwells there, what it's like, and even another structure where Pazuzu has supposedly imprisoned his consort when she turned against him. There is also a sidebar on The Blinding Claw, a major artifact that Pazuzu possesses.</blockquote>

Verification